Report: Next Jaguar F-Type to Get BMW Power

Jaguar has made it pretty clear that it's still committed to sports cars, despite its move into SUVs and entry-level sedans. We've heard Jaguar is eyeing a 2+2 sports car, and a new report seems to have more information. According to CAR Magazine, Jaguar will replace the two-seat F-Type with a 2+2 equipped with BMW's 4.4-liter twin-turbo V-8.

That engine could be the one found in the BMW M5, where it makes 600 hp, or 617 hp in Competition Package guise. The current F-Type tops out at 575 hp with its aging 5.0-liter supercharged V-8.

The report says that the new engine, which should be more efficient than the current one in the F-Type, will also make its way to a range of higher-end Jaguars and Range Rovers. Other vehicles will continue to use engines from Jaguar Land Rover's own Ingenium family, which currently includes four-cylinders but will also likely add inline-sixes eventually.

Arriving in 2020, the new F-Type will sit on a lighter architecture. CAR confirms it will keep its engine at the front despite rumors it would be mid-engine. On the contrary, Jaguar is thinking of a possible additional model that could get this mid-engine configuration. A fully electric F-Type is under consideration, but it won't arrive before 2023, the report says.

Last year, design chief Ian Callum lamented the discontinuation of the XK and told Autocar he wanted both a two-seater and a 2+2 in the lineup. "We're working on something now," he said. "There's nothing approved, but we instigate in design. That's what we do." Hanno Kirner, Jaguar's product strategy boss, also recently hinted at multiple sports cars, "We love sports cars—and I use the plural quite deliberately," Kirner said to Autocar. "Whether that is delivered by a body variant or something else remains to be seen, but for now, let's just say that the body type is very important for us."

For now, we can't be exactly sure what Jaguar has cooking. But a BMW-powered Jaguar 2+2 has us intrigued, and we'll be keeping an ear out for more information.